Storm Darragh causes severe disruption to Christmas rail plans
- Written by
- Lauren Legate
- Published
- December 11, 2024
Although the year is almost over, the storm season is certainly not, with the latest, Storm Darragh causing many flood warnings across the country and serious damage to critical infrastructure.
Many parts of Wales have been deeply impacted by Storm Darragh. Along the Welsh border the River Severn, Britain’s longest river, overflowed its banks at the weekend.
Flood warnings are still in place this week for over 77 areas in the UK.
The poor weather conditions, including heavy rain and strong winds, has led to a shortage of trains running from the south west of England into London in the aftermath of Storm Darragh.
National Rail said: ‘This means that fewer trains will run, and some services may have reduced carriages as a result.’
Chris Baughan, Network Rail’s west coast south route operations manager, said Storm Darragh had “wreaked havoc on the railway this weekend” and added: “We are very sorry to passengers for the disruption to train services this morning on the west coast main line as frontline teams continue with emergency repairs and the clean-up.”
Passengers were told to expect cancellations and delays to train services on the west coast main line, between London Euston and Scotland, while Great Western Railway told people not to try to travel in parts of Wales and in parts of Cornwall.
As the festive season is upon us, many people will be relying on trains when travelling to Christmas celebrations and going back home to visit family but with frequent storms disrupting multiple rail lines people’s plans will be unsettled.